Garion Thorne gives his top studs and value plays for tonight’s six-game featured fantasy baseball slate on DraftKings.
There’s only six games on tonight’s featured MLB DFS slate on DraftKings, but a couple are truly massive games. The Yankees and Blue Jays will continue their fight for the division, as will the Tigers and the Guardians. Let’s also not forget that the Mets are in action in the NL, as the squad remains just a single game up on both the Reds and the Diamondbacks.
Let’s dive in and find some studs and values for your lineups.
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PITCHER
Value
Brayan Bello, Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays, $8,000 – There’s a lot of uncertainty and openers on this slate, so let’s pay a little more for peace of mind. Bello’s past four starts haven’t been amazing, but the right-hander owns a 3.34 ERA across 161.2 innings of work this season. More importantly, he’ll be opposed by a Blue Jays club that hasn’t had a spark in over a week. Toronto has been held to a single run or fewer in six of its last seven games, a span of time where the team is slashing .156/.219/.243 with a 29 wRC+. Bo Bichette (knee), you are very missed in Canada. Bello should have little issue working his way through this struggling lineup on Thursday evening.
INFIELD
Stud
Ben Rice, New York Yankees vs. Chicago White Sox, $4,400 – I guess not everyone on the Yankees can be priced above $5,000, but this salary seems like a steal for Rice. Remember that Rice enters this matchup with Davis Martin ($6,500) in possession of a 98th percentile hard hit rate (56.5%), a 98th percentile expected wOBA (.407) and a 97th percentile expected slugging rate (.574). In layman’s terms, he’s been crushing the baseball all season long. Meanwhile, Martin has surrendered 1.58 home runs per nine to opposing LHBs in 2025. That’s a tough way to survive at Yankee Stadium, Davis.
Value
Francisco Alvarez, New York Mets at Chicago Cubs, $3,000 – With the aforementioned Rice’s eligibility at first base, you can easily slot both he and Alvarez into the same build. That’s great news, as Alvarez is cheap and red-hot at the moment, having hit a home run in back-to-back games. Now, he’ll get the opportunity to face the left-handed Shota Imanaga ($8,500), who simply can not stop allowing long balls the past couple of months. To wit, Imanaga’s conceded 2.53 home runs per nine across his last 11 starts. For Alvarez, the Mets’ team leader in expected slugging percentage versus LHPs (.526), you couldn’t ask for a better matchup.
OUTFIELD
Stud
Jo Adell, Los Angeles Angels vs. Kansas City Royals, $4,100 – This is the exact type of matchup where you want to utilize Adell, whose .493 expected wOBA on batted ball events ranks in the 97th percentile of the league. Adell strikes out far too often to be truly reliable, yet Michael Lorenzen ($7,000) isn’t a strikeout pitcher, sitting in just the 29th percentile of MLB in whiff rate this season (23.0%). Lorenzen has also struggled pitching away from the spacious Kauffman Stadium, as he sports a 5.75 ERA on the road and has allowed 1.75 opponent home runs per nine within the split.
Value
Dominic Canzone, Seattle Mariners vs. Colorado Rockies, $3,300 – Despite clinching the AL West last night, the Mariners’ regulars should all still be in the lineup on Thursday, as the team pushes towards the No. 1 seed in the American League. That includes Canzone, who has been the team’s secret weapon in 2025. In 256 plate appearances, Canzone is slashing .305/.359/.494 with a 144 wRC+. Things get even better when you isolate Canzone’s numbers against RHPs, as he’s managed a .222 ISO and a 153 wRC+ within the split. Bradley Blalock ($5,000) hasn’t been quite as bad outside of Coors Field this season, but the man sports a 9.16 ERA over 55.0 innings. You can obviously stack against him at will.